Canadian Television Fund Successfully Supports Industry’s Cultural and Commercial Goals

From a media release:

The Canadian Television Fund (CTF) today presented an overview of the organization’s successes in funding popular, critically acclaimed television programming in its opening presentation at the CRTC’s public hearing on the future of the Fund.

“Canadians are watching CTF-funded programs,” said Valerie Creighton, President of the CTF. “Shows like The Rick Mercer Report and Little Mosque on the Prairie, regularly attain audiences of over one million. Les Boys, Annie et ses hommes, and Destinées all have drawn from one to one and a half million viewers. New shows, such as The Border, Sophie, Heartland, and The Guard are attracting 500,000 to 800,000 viewers. And a recently launched success story in the French market, Les Lavigueur, la vraie histoire, averaged over two million viewers in its first two episodes.”

“All of these culturally and commercially successful shows would not exist without the vital support provided through CTF funding,” Ms. Creighton continued.

In its presentation to the CRTC, the CTF demonstrated that the non-profit corporation is a market-driven organization that, through its extensive experience in policy development and funding delivery, is an effective and efficient instrument through which the CRTC, the broadcasting distribution undertakings and the Government of Canada can meet their collective cultural and commercial objectives.

“Our program and funding model, with ongoing input from our stakeholders, has contributed to the creation of over 25,000 hours of Canadian programming, all of it seen by Canadians during prime-time,” said Douglas Barrett, Chair of the CTF Board. “Every dollar invested by the CTF triggers $3.20 in production volume for the Canadian television industry. CTF-supported productions have cultivated over 22,000 jobs in television production annually – that’s half the jobs in the television industry.”

CTF-funded shows are reaching audiences across the globe. Da Vinci’s Inquest and DeGrassi:The Next Generation are in syndication in the U.S. ReGenesis airs in over 175 countries. Les hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin and Minuit, le soir were sold to France’s top-rated public broadcaster, France2, for broadcast in prime-time. Recent news about the sales of Flashpoint to CBS, The Listener to NBC, Sophie to ABC Family, and competition for The Border between ABC and CBS means that CTF supported programs will air on three of the largest conventional U.S. networks.

The week-long public hearing on the future of the organization is being carried on the CPAC website at www.cpac.ca. Further details about the CTF are available on the organization’s website at www.ctf-fct.ca.

About the Canadian Television Fund

Fostering the growth of television production in Canada through financial investment and industry research, the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) supports the development of Canadian talent, programs and audiences. Since 1995, the CTF has contributed to the creation of over 25,000 hours of Canadian television and has provided over $2.5 billion of financial investment triggering the production of over $8 billion of Canadian television. CTF-supported productions have cultivated thousands of jobs in the Canadian television sector.

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3 thoughts on “Canadian Television Fund Successfully Supports Industry’s Cultural and Commercial Goals”

  1. I see Heartland’s mentioned in the 500,000 to 800,000 viewer category. Okay, I give up. Where does one find ratings of these shows that are not listed in the top 30 BBM Canada?

  2. You need special sources, unfortunately … which I don’t have. Occasionally the ratings pop up in various articles though, especially Playback (or Media in Canada via Playback).

  3. Sadly, we can’t even view Playback anymore without a subscription.

    I was glad to finally see mention of Heartland’s ratings in this article. Hopefully the show does indeed get at least 500,000 cause then it’s almost guaranteed a renewal. I’m heard from a few sources (one good) that it’s already been renewed due to the fact that it fills CBC’s prairie quota and Alberta is kicking in a bit of funds.

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